Etheridge, partner announce they’re expecting twins

New York – Melissa Etheridge’s partner, Tammy Lynn Michaels, is pregnant with twins, the couple announced on the singer’s Web site.

“We are thrilled to announce that Tammy is pregnant, and expecting our twins sometime around this fall,” they said in a statement. “To answer the obvious question: We used an anonymous donor from a (sperm) bank.”

Etheridge, 44, and Michaels, 31, held a commitment ceremony in 2003. The Grammy-winning singer has two children from her relationship with former partner Julie Cypher: daughter Bailey Jean and son Beckett. Cypher had the children through artificial insemination using a sperm donation from rock legend David Crosby.

Etheridge was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2004, but is now cancer-free. She last released a greatest hits album titled “The Road Less Traveled.”

Michaels starred on the 2005 NBC comedy “Committed” and has appeared on Showtime’s “The L Word.”

News stint may continue

New York – There’s a good chance Bob Schieffer won’t leave the “CBS Evening News” after he’s replaced as anchor by Katie Couric in September.

Schieffer said Tuesday that he’s leaning toward accepting the network’s offer to deliver a commentary on the evening news once or twice a week, and also be available to talk with Couric on-air about big stories.

Schieffer’s 13-month stint as evening-news anchor replacing Dan Rather has proven an unexpected boon to CBS. While the broadcast is still in third place behind NBC and ABC, it’s the only one that has gained viewers over the past year. The plainspoken, 69-year-old anchor has drawn much of the credit.

The idea to give Schieffer a role in a Couric-anchored broadcast, first reported in the Philadelphia Inquirer, could help ensure a smooth transition by reassuring Schieffer’s fans that he’s not being rudely cast aside.

It could also further set CBS apart from its competitors. Although there’s a history of commentary on evening-news broadcasts, from people like John Chancellor, Eric Sevareid and Howard K. Smith, it hasn’t been done for several years on any of the three networks.

Israel concert moved

Jerusalem – Pink Floyd bass player Roger Waters has moved his summer concert from Tel Aviv to the joint Jewish-Arab village of Neve Shalom, Channel 2 TV has reported.

Waters has lent his support to a pro-Palestinian movement urging removal of a barrier Israel is building along the West Bank. Israel says the barrier is necessary to keep suicide bombers out of the country, but Palestinians reject it as a land-grab.

The June concert had been set for Tel Aviv’s Yarkon Park. Neve Shalom is about halfway between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv in Israel’s coastal plain.

The TV report on Sunday said about 50,000 people were expected to attend.

Pink Floyd reunited last year for a Live 8 concert in London’s Hyde Park. It was the first time guitarist David Gilmour, drummer Nick Mason, keyboard player Richard Wright and Waters had appeared onstage together since a concert at London’s Earl’s Court in 1981.

Elvis’ first home for sale

Nashville, Tenn. – Now, you can live like The King.

Elvis Presley’s first home, a ranch-style house he bought as his career was taking off, is for sale on eBay.

As of Tuesday, the lone bid was $100,000 by Elvis Unlimited, an organization that operates an Elvis museum and shop in Randers, Denmark.

Presley, then 21, bought the modest, four-bedroom building at 1034 Audubon Drive in Memphis on March 8, 1956, with his royalties. Elvis had a 50-foot-long granite pool installed in the backyard and a den added to the house. The pool was the largest residential pool in Memphis when he built it.

His motorcycles were housed in a separate building, which eventually became a pool house with two dressing rooms. Both the pool house and the pool remain on the property.

A month after moving in, “Heartbreak Hotel” hit No. 1 on the Billboard charts, ultimately ending any privacy he had in the neighborhood. Fans lined the suburban street and police frequently had to be called in.

In March 1957, Presley gave up the house on Audubon Drive for a 14-acre estate with a two-story colonial house already known as Graceland.